Iga Gawronska's blog

Went to do a little 'drawing workout' in my neighbourhood of Poble Sec in Barcelona. I have to draw more buildings, not only is it a great exercise in patience but also the perspective needs some work!

My day 4 drawing turned into rescuing an antique cupboard/record player we found on our way to the studio, and then an exploration of the wine cellar (also on the way) that sold beautiful wine from barrels by litre... Therefore, there is no drawing worth scanning from that evening....

So, yesterday, filled with guilt (and with an incredible hangover) I decided for a little field trip around Barcelona. Las Ramblas is an obvious choice when you're searching for a big number of people in one place. Despite it's horrible touristy atmosphere and the crowds, when you sit on a bench for a couple of hours sketching another layer of life unveils. You discover little groups of old people (70+) hanging out on the benches, just like the youngsters do, only a bit calmer and more silent on the outside ("Come on Rosa, we saved you a seat!"). You observe the lone ones that sit on the bench for forty-five minutes just to look at the waves of tourists posing in front of one building or another, chatting about their dinners or buying the Comic Sans Barcelona bags or any other traumatically awful memorabilia.

After that we moved to some pizzeria close to our temporary home, where my sketching attracted a lot of attention. The pizza was truly delicious, and I managed to trade a drawing of the Napoletan boss for a shot of limoncello, haha! After that we stepped by my favourite local place in Barcelona so far, a little cafe called Cometa.

Overall, there are maybe twice as many sketches from yesterday, but I won't bore you with all of them. It was a very rewarding exercise, and I think it might become my new weekend tradition.

Day 3 or rather Night 3 (as the day ended up to be a 12 hour-long siesta) of the 'a drawing a day' challenge.

Ostwald Helgason's collection is one of the nicest ones that I've seen so far. The outfits just beg for being drawn! I wonder what kind of price tag would their collection for Opening Ceremony bear, cause I really wouldn't mind a piece or two. Hopefully, my bank balance magically skyrockets by the time it gets to the stores! (Yeah right...)

A lot of things have happened since I last posted on the blog. Most importantly, I left the hustle and bustle of London to live in Barcelona. So the last two months were mainly focused on packing my art supplies (and sadly leaving some things behind) rather than using them.. Packing your whole life in one car is not fun, I can tell you that! But all that was worth it, for all the days on the beach and sunlight that were waiting for me here.

So, just recently I managed to find a studio in this beautiful city. It's in an old quarter of Poble Sec, and I'm sharing with three other artists. I think I'll make a post about it soon, once I settle down and I get a bit more furniture inside as for now it looks just a little bit empty/creepy!

To get my drawing back on track, and as a personal exercise I decided to embark on the popular 'a drawing a day' challenge and see what happens. So below you can see my first two drawings.
Apart from that, I plan to use this blog more like an art journal now to document my exploration of the city of Miro and Picasso, and now that I'm fully freelance and have a bit more time on my hands.

day 1, pencil sketch and then some shy trials with digital drawing

day 2 - back to basics, who am I kidding, I will always prefer analogue